Your Right to Know

Ohio schools would get more time to prepare for new graduation tests and would receive new
guidelines when designating employees who are allowed to carry guns under bills that passed the
House yesterday.

A near-unanimous House attempted to address concerns that a number of Ohio school districts need
more time to prepare for end-of-course exams that are set to replace the Ohio Graduation Test.

Too many districts also have technological issues that will hinder administration of new online
testing that is set to begin in the 2014-15 school year.

Requirements would be delayed for a year under House Bill 193, which now goes to the Senate.
Rep. Andrew Brenner, R-Powell, said it sets up a more-reasonable timeline for implementing new
tests and content standards.

Under the bill, students in the class of 2019, entering ninth grade after July 1, 2015, would be
the first to take new college and work-ready tests instead of the current graduation test. The
bill, Brenner said, also would provide a range of testing options, including a career-technical
option, for students to graduate, and reduce the number of required end-of-course exams from 10 to
five.

Smart methods of assessing whether a student is ready to graduate are essential, but “it’s
important that we implement these methods in the correct manner,” Brenner said.

Lori Snyder-Lowe, superintendent of Morgan Local Schools, recently highlighted in a letter to
Gov. John Kasich that her district lacks Internet connectivity, computers and student tech skills
to implement the news tests.

“Are we setting our students up for failure?” she asked.

The House also moved a bill on arming school personnel.

Under current law, a school board can designate employees who are allowed to carry guns inside
school buildings, grounds and buses. House Bill 8 would allow that designation to be made in a
private executive session, keep secret the names of those designated to carry, and grant civil
immunity to schools and personnel if those designated use a gun.

The bill, which passed the House 62-28 and now goes to the Senate, also says that those
designated to carry must have a concealed-carry license.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg on some of the ways we need to look at keeping our kids
safe,” said Rep. Stephanie Kunze, R-Hilliard.

Rep. John Patterson Jr., D-Jefferson, whose district includes Chardon High School, where three
students were gunned down in February 2012, noted that while Chardon now has an officer on campus,
a nearby district is 20 minutes from police.

“Rural districts are not only further away from law enforcement but they also face the challenge
of funding issues,” he said. “Sometimes we have to make the best with what we have to work
with."

Some Democrats expressed concern about the immunity provision, that the designation was excluded
from collective bargaining and that psychological exams were not required before a school employee
is selected.

Also, with broad bipartisan support, the House passed a 10-year, $1.9 billion bond issue for
local infrastructure projects. It now goes to voters in May.

If the expanded borrowing is approved, it would increase Ohio spending on local capital projects
from the current $150 million a year to $175 million annually for the next five years, and then
$200 million for five years.

“A lot of times these are projects we don’t think about. There’s a sewage system or a water
system we take for granted,” said Sen. Kevin Bacon, R-Minerva Park, who sponsored the
resolution.

The state Capital Improvement Program was first approved by voters in 1987 and renewed in 1995
and 2005.